Stern words from Jurgen Klopp helped inspire Liverpool to their win over Stoke City, according to midfielder Joe Allen.
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Jordon Ibe scored the game’s only goal in the 37th minute in a 1-0 win for Liverpool.
The list of injured players at Liverpool FC now includes all four centre-backs, prompting Klopp to suggest that January arrivals at Anfield are quite possible.
Such is the extent of Liverpool’s mounting injury problems that Klopp faces the prospect of heading into Friday’s FA Cup trip to Exeter City with Kolo Toure as his solitary available and recognised centre-back. “Two weeks ago we had three centre backs, which is a good situation and the season started with five but now it is zero”, mused the Reds manager.
Philippe Coutinho will miss Liverpool’s Premier League showdowns with Arsenal and Manchester United with the playmaker facing a three-week spell on the sidelines.
As well as those injured on Tuesday and with Skrtel also out, youngsters Divock Origi and Jordan Rossiter have hamstring injuries, while England striker Daniel Sturridge has had a catalogue of problems.
Klopp admitted the injuries overshadowed a fine performance at Stoke where Ibe’s goal gave his team the edge in the semi.
And former Liverpool skipper and manager Souness believes busy treatment room is down to the demands of the high-octane pressing game imposed by Klopp since taking over from Brendan Rodgers in October.
But the Reds boss explained that “in this part of the season” and “after the last game” it is “always easy to criticise things” and say “we have to make this better or make that better”.
He said: “We had for sure two bad – I think, bad – injuries and that’s why we’re not only lucky tonight”. “There is no training”, said Klopp.
“We don’t train, we only recover so that’s the situation now”, he said.
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“I don’t know, but when two players go out, you have watched British football longer than I have so you know what it means”. Lovren and Toure, due to the sparsity of players in central defense, will make the immediate game most hard.
